


Plague Comes to Ferngill

by purpleandgreen



Category: Stardew Valley (Video Game)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-09
Updated: 2021-01-09
Packaged: 2021-03-13 09:40:56
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,433
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28651413
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/purpleandgreen/pseuds/purpleandgreen
Summary: A short drabble about how Harvey and Jerusha might deal with a covid -like virus coming to the Ferngill Republic. Set after the events of my first and second Stardew Valley Harvey and Jerusha stories, but not connected in the main narrative of the series.
Relationships: Harvey/Female Player (Stardew Valley)
Kudos: 4





	Plague Comes to Ferngill

“Hey honey, you’re late! Everything okay?” Jerusha smiles at me as I open the front door.

I walk into Jerusha’s farmhouse, there is a smell of food cooking and a roaring fire. She’s tucked up on the sofa, dark hair loose, framing her face in the golden glow of firelight, book on her lap, her dog Bear lazily getting up from his place near the fire to greet me, wagging his tail. The scene looked like my idea of heaven. 

I desperately want to kiss her in greeting, but I can’t think about touching her before showering first and putting all my clothes in the washing machine.

“I’ll tell you after I’ve showered.” I say rubbing Bear’s soft ears.

“Okay, dinner’s on the stove, we’ll eat when you’re ready.”

Still fighting back the urge to kiss her, “You’re an angel, thank you, I’m starving. I’ll be heading out again around 9pm”

I shower as quickly as possible, putting all my clothes in the washing machine on as hot a wash as they’ll take. I brush my teeth and stare at the man looking back at me from the mirror. 

There are marks on my face from the constant mask wearing, and I notice redness on my temples where the face shield has starting to irritate the skin. My moustache has gone, it still feels weird to see myself without it, but it was uncomfortable under the mask, I’m not sure I like the effect. The biggest difference is the dark circles under my eyes. Evidence of the heavy workload that has come to all medical staff in the Ferngill Republic.

The disease had come from Gotoro, according to conspiracy theories. An engineered plague to weaken the populace of Ferngill Republic and win the war for the Gotoro Empire.

Nonsense of course. Viruses will always rear their ugly heads whilst humans live in close contact with each other and in large numbers. It wasn’t only Ferngill people dying, reports from Gotoro were scary, morgues not able to cope with the amount of the bodies piling up from this awful disease, hospitals overcrowded and understaffed. 

I was spending my days trying to keep the residents of our small town safe and my nights travelling to Zuzu City General Hospital doing what I could on the wards for those for whom the virus had become life threatening. 

Wearing a t-shirt and pajamas which I wished I could keep on, in order to spend an entire night sleeping, I finally re-entered the room Jerusha was in. I kissed her for a full moment, before throwing myself on the sofa. 

“Stay there.” Jerusha rose to get dinner, “I’ll bring your food over.” 

“How did I get so lucky?” I murmured as she brought a bowl of hot stew for me, piping hot and full of vegetables fresh from her latest crop. 

“Eat while it’s still hot.” 

This is our life now. Every night Jerusha, my beautiful, generous, gorgeous girlfriend cooks for me, fusses over me, looks after me, and every night I leave her alone in her bed to go and help others. Even on rare nights off, I fall into bed too exhausted to do anything but peck her goodnight. 

We were still quite new into this relationship when the epidemic struck. Jerusha, seeing my workload, had opened her house to me and taken it upon herself to make sure I was fed and that I slept, even a little. We were living like an old married couple, without the excitement of first dates, romance and the joy that can accompany a new relationship. We’d done nothing except made our relationship public at the Spring Flower Dance. We hadn’t even slept together except in the strictest sense of the word. 

I felt terrible about it at the beginning, but as the workload continued to skyrocket, as the crisis deepened, as more and more people died in front of me, despite my ministrations and best efforts, I became numb with exhaustion, physical and emotional, and was merely surviving. 

I knew it was taking a toll on Jerusha. We weren’t having fun, we were just existing alongside each other in her farmhouse. I told her I would go back to my apartment, and not to worry, but she wouldn’t have it. Without a murmur she carried on making sure that I was looked after. She was incredible. 

I finish the stew in double quick time and Jerusha, ever attentive, takes the bowl off me, before I let it fall to the floor, my eyes closing.

“Harvey, honey, go to bed, you’ve got 2 hours before you have to leave again, at least try and get an hour’s sleep.”

I look into her grey eyes, “I had to send George to Zuzu today. Evelyn’s distraught.”

Jerusha was silent, what could she say? ‘I hope he’ll be okay’? We had no way of knowing that.

“Oh Yoba, this is too awful”

“It’s just for tests, but his chest sounded awful, as if it was filling with fluid. I’m so worried for him, and for Evelyn. She can’t even go with him or visit him. If he tests positive, it’ll be the first case in the valley and we’ll all have to be extra careful”

“Harvey, you’ve done your best for him, there’s nothing more you could have done.”

“It doesn’t make it any easier.”

Jerusha, entwines her fingers in mine, gently pulling me up to standing. She kisses me on the lips and then pulls me to the bedroom. “I know.”

It’s all she can say. She is always there to listen, support, and I wonder how I would have coped without her. 

Wordlessly I drop into her bed. It smells deliciously of her shampoo and her scent, and accept the forehead kiss from her, before sinking into a welcome oblivion. 

Too, too soon, Jerusha is softly calling my name, drawing me reluctantly out of a dreamless sleep, “Okay, Okay, I’m up.”

She’s laid fresh clothes out for me on the chair next to the bed. I can’t express my gratitude to her enough, because after so many nights, it seems meaningless, So I just get dressed, swill my mouth with a proffered mug of coffee and put my coat on, pick up my work bag from the porch and kiss Jerusha goodbye, in what feels like minutes after greeting her earlier. “I’ll see you in the morning.” 

“You betcha, breakfast will be on the table, and there’s some snacks in your bag.”

“You’re the best.” 

We’re still not at the ‘I love you’ stage yet, but I look deep into her eyes long enough to convey that meaning, hoping that she gets the message. I don’t know why I haven’t told her yet, because I definitely know. It’s all so new and now this situation has been thrust on us, it doesn’t feel right. 

I kiss her forehead, with warnings to wash her hands frequently and use the hand sanitiser I had given to every house in the valley and I head out into the night. 

The drive to Zuzu is an hour, and I’m ready for a 10 hour shift by 10.30pm. In the morning, I’ll drive back to Pelican Town, ready to open the clinic and make house calls by 9.30.  
I’m working in the epidemic ward tonight. This means full protective gear, full hazard coveralls, gloves, face mask, boots. All uncomfortable, impersonal and no certain guarantee of protection for any of us.

The team get together at the beginning of the shift to discuss the patients and how we’re going to treat them. Mainly, it’s keeping them breathing, intubating, cannulating, and trying to get them as comfortable as possible. In most cases, it’s all we can do.

My glasses are pressed uncomfortably against my face under the hazard mask. But that’s all forgotten as I get to work.

Most of the patients were elderly, or with other conditions that made them particularly vulnerable to the virus. I check my list of jobs, written for each member of the team by the lead physician on duty this evening. First on the list:

George Mullner: intubation

Oh Yoba. George. 

I approach his bed, his rasping breath is coming in gasps and his chest makes an audible wheezing sound with every inhalation.  
“Hey George.” I say gently, looking at his notes.

I don’t think he can hear me, but I do know that he needs help to breathe. I grab a small surgical trolley and fill it with the equipment I need to intubate him. 

I listen to his chest, every movement of his lungs bubbles with the fluid that is preventing him being able to take a full breath. 

This isn’t typical of the epidemic, this seems more like pneumonia to me. He has a history of this.

If I can release some of the fluid on his chest, I might not need to intubate, a brutal procedure that I didn’t want to put George through if unnecessary.

I made a split-second decision.

I grab a couple of chest drains from the supply cupboard, and a little local anaesthetic which I put into a hypodermic.

I gently undid his pajama top, cleaned the area on one side of his chest and put in a little of the local. Took a deep breath, “Sorry George” and pushed the large bore needle into his lung then fastening the seal.

Immediately, a slightly discoloured fluid started to leak into the bag at the end of the tube. Was it my imagination or did George seem to begin to breathe easier?

No, it was definitely my imagination, I performed the same action on his other side, punching the tube into his other lung, which if anything, drained faster than the first.  
This time it wasn’t my imagination. George was absolutely breathing with less labour, as if the chest drain had relieved some of the pressure on his lungs. Which I was confident it had. 

I gave him a very small dose of sedative. Enough to keep him calm when the local wore off. 

Breathing a sigh of relief, I held George’s hand in mine for a moment. I wasn’t Evelyn, but at least I could ensure that George wasn’t alone and he was comforted in this hell hole of an epidemic ward. 

I moved quickly through the rest of the patients on my list. Trying to help everyone was time consuming and before I knew it, it was 4am. I’d been on my feet for nearly 6 hours.  
I indicated to the team that I was going to have a break. 

There was barely time for a bathroom break once I’d divested myself of all the protective equipment. 

I didn’t have time to eat any of the healthy snacks that Jerusha had so carefully packed for me. But fondly I looked at the note that she’d included in the snack box.

Have a good shift, me and Bear will be waiting for you in the morning  
Jerusha  
x

I pocketed the note and discarded the snacks in the nearest bin. In the morning, I’d tell her that they were delicious.

I swallowed a cup of water from the cooler in the break room and got dressed again.

I left the break room and ran straight into another doctor.

“Yoba, I’m sorry!”

I couldn’t see who was under all the protective equipment, but there was no mistaking the voice when he spoke. 

“Dr Brennan. Can I see you in my office please?”

Shit.

James Kendrick.

I gulped. I was not James Kendrick’s favourite person, after an incident that happened years when I was a junior doctor. 

I thought that he may have let it go finally. After all, everyone was needed at this time, and I was happy to help when the call came from Zuzu General.

Seems not.

Shaking slightly, I followed him to his office, where he indicated I take a seat.

“Dr Brennan,”

His tone is serious and I’m starting to get anxious, trying to slow my breathing and focus on not having a full-blown panic attack.

“Dr Brennan, did you treat Mr Mullner earlier?”

“Y- yes. Why? Is he okay?”

He’s absolutely fine. You made the right decision not to intubate him. We ran a test on the lung fluids and his blood, he has pneumonia, probably due to a severe chest infection. I believe he used to work in the mines at Pelican Town?”

“Yes, that’s right. He always has a cough and I have to prescribe him antibiotics on a regular basis in winter.”

“Well, he’s not out of the woods yet, but we’re going to move him to an isolation room and then he can go to a general ward for further treatment. He definitely doesn’t have the virus.”

I slumped back in the chair, releasing a breath I hadn’t realised I was holding. “I’m so glad. I’ll let his wife know tomorrow, she’ll be delighted.”

I started to get up, “Thank you Mr Kendrick, is that, will that be all?”

“Not quite Dr Brennan. You got lucky this time, you knew the patient well enough to take a lead on this. But I warn you, if you ever go against my wishes again, or act on a patient without consulting the lead physician first I’ll have you out of here so fast and in front of a tribunal you won’t have time to breathe. You’re not running your own clinic here. Understood?”

I look at the floor, “Understood.” I mumbled.

“Right. Get out.”

I scurried out of his office like a chastised schoolboy. But once I was down the corridor a ways, I stopped and a small smile crept onto my face.

George was going to be okay -and that, for once, I let my ego speak it in my head, was thanks to me!

I couldn’t wait to tell Evelyn in the morning that her husband would be coming back to her sooner than either of us had expected. 

The last few hours of my shift were uneventful. Thankfully, we lost no-one that night. It was a good shift. One time the previous week, we lost three patients in the space of a couple of hours.

But today, I drove back to Pelican Town with a lighter heart. I felt useful, like all my training was worth it. It didn’t matter that James Kendrick still loathed me, I’d managed to do some good and that was enough for me. 

And when I got back, I knew Jerusha would be waiting for me. 

End

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading this!
> 
> I don't know anything about medical procedures, so the things I've written about here are probably complete nonsense. Oh, and I'm British so it's all in UK english. Sorry!
> 
> As always, comments, kudos and criticism always welcome :)


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